About my daily thoughts and life here in Lisbon

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Greetings from Lisbon! We’re having hot sunny days here and I thought I’d just get this picture posted before it gets too warm again. Rasmi posted this selfie of her and Flocky yesterday and it’s one of the best yet. It’s a great one of Russ and I love the way Flocky is trying to look like a strict boss. Well if the truth is known, she IS now the boss at home in Kathmandu. But I know the way to wipe that bossy look from her face. Just take a piece of chicken curry from the fridge or pick up her lead so she thinks she’s going out somewhere or pick up a ball. She’s addicted to playing football and is quite a cunning, tactical player too. I used to love going up on the roof to watch Flocky playing football with Kumar and to see the way Flocky concentrated so intensely on the ball.

Look at this incredible old Portuguese building. I think it’s the old town hall or the Portuguese equivalent. Not sure about that, but I should know soon enough. It’s at the end of my road here.

So I finally write my first blog in Portuguese. It’s very difficult for me, so I’ll get a little help from Google Translate, maybe. I wonder, how people survived before Google Translate hahaha.

Life is going incredibly well for me, right now. But great things are missing for us. We are losing members of our family. And, of course, my German shepherd, Flocky. When they are all here, it will be Utopia.

It is fortunate that Kumar is also here, otherwise I would have abandoned this idea of ​​Portugal a long time ago and taken a flight back to Kathmandu. He works long hours and never gets home before 11 o’clock at night. But he does a holiday every Sunday and he prepares a good lunch and we open a bottle of wine, sometimes champagne.

I spend a lot of time thinking about the past and the future as well. I always think of sad times, good times, exciting moments, friends and relatives, My world travels, my past mistakes and more. I think a lot of “friends” who deceived me, turned against me, used me to their own advantage and subsequently disappeared from my life. I remember with a mixture of affection and hate. I often remember my childhood, grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, playing in the street, Saturday morning cinema, children’s movies and I remember the days when we were so poor, but generally happy enough. My grandparents were always there to support us and help us.

I think now that I need a nap. Many people take naps in this part of the world where the afternoon temperature is usually very high. Now the outside temperature is 30c at 2:38 PM / Tomorrow we will have a very hot day with 34c at 36c. I hate the heat.

I do not know why I decided to write in Portuguese today because none of my Portuguese contacts know my WordPress account. WordPress is a place for me, where I write my journal, and it’s a place where my online friends can know something about me. Those who are brave enough to click on my link, anyway.

The big news in this locality this morning is about the small aircraft which made an emergency landing yesterday on our local beach (Caparica), killing a 50 year old man and an 8 year old girl. We are not really safe anywhere and we never know what will happen. I will think of this incident every time I visit that beach in the future. I’m not much of a beach lover (sand gets everywhere) unless of course I’m walking along the fabulous beaches of Boracay in the Philippines or similar idyllic beaches. I was once dining in the late evening on a beach in Koh Chang in Thailand when an almighty thunderstorm struck and everybody scurried back to their beach bungalows.

One of my guests recently gave me a bottle of something called ‘Kangingin’ and it’s been sitting on the shelf in the sitting room ever since. Well right now I’m down with a cold and sore throat and I read the label on the bottle ‘Licor de ervas energetica’. If energetica means ‘energetic’ (it does) it’s exactly what I need today so I decided to pour a glass and try it. Well it’s strong and tastes terrific, a bit like those cough medicines I loved as a boy. I just had a very small measure but it’s already gone to my head. I don’t have any energy though so I guess it’s because of the heat. Maybe I need a second glass to be sure.

I just took this shot from the kitchen window. Isn’t the water a terrific colour today ?

I have work to do. Two visitors left this morning so I have to clean the room and put clean bed sheets etc. I hate doing this stuff but ke garne ?

I am in an incredibly good mood this morning. I’m not sure of the reason but it could be something to do with the cooler weather. Everybody else is sleeping right now so the apartment is quiet. It’s only 22c at 8:55 am which many people may regard as hot but here in Lisbon in July, it is cool. The past few days have been uncomfortably hot and I’m now trying to decide whether to buy a portable airconditioner or leave it until next year.

Yesterday Rasmi sent me a fantastic video from Kathmandu. I could see Flocky welcoming Rekha home after being away for some months on a training course. It unsettled me and I just wanted to be back home in Kathmandu. I do love getting all those pictures and videos.

I’ve been sitting at my desk for far too long this morning and there is work to be done but I am in laziness mode and need to get motivated.

I have been reminiscing a lot this morning. I played some Chinese instrumental music and listened to a British radio station on my laptop, quietly in my room. I only have a small bedroom temporarily but I like it very much and I can see the estuary from here.

This morning I once more wondered if I am slightly autistic. I have been misunderstood so many times in my life and people mostly misunderstand autistic people. I hate being misunderstood but sometimes cannot break through an invisible barrier to make my thoughts clear and understandable. I hurt people very easily. I mean, I don’t mean to hurt them but I do. I am ridiculously frank about things and I try to make a big effort to be diplomatic but I still get comments about my frankness. I hate it when I upset people who I like but I still do it unintentionally. I get hurt very easily also and tend to lash out fiercely when somebody hurts or harms me. I have an autistic sister and she hurts everybody most of the time, especially people who care for her the most so I am very familiar with the habits and emotions of autistic people. I can recognize some of her traits in myself. I can and have been a highly successful business person and also in our latest venture which has gone up like a rocket. I have several very long term friends and I place huge value on those friendships. I have upset a few as well, always unintentionally. I don’t suppose I will ever truly understand myself.

Well I need to do some work. I’ve had quite a lazy morning even though there are many things waiting to be done. Sunday is the day when I try to get some relaxation but it rarely works. I have to clean the kitchen floor because it always gets messy. The picture above is my kitchen but it’s not as narrow as it looks in this picture. My camera was having an off day maybe.

I don’t usually get too much time for nostalgia these days but this morning I found myself with a couple of hours to do whatever I wanted. I went to my collection of Chinese music and found a track of hulusi music which I bought in Dali (Yunnan) several years ago while on a one month backpacking tour of China. I don’t suppose anybody is even remotely interested in hulusi music but just in case, you can listen to my favourite track in Youtube:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pq__l3woizM

The picture at the top is of the main bus station in Kunming, from where we get the bus to Dali (Yunnan), if we can figure out how to buy the ticket and how to find the bus of course. We were successful. Finally.

I have two Iranian friends staying here with me at the moment:- Mehdi and his wife Faezeh. It would be difficult to find nicer people and I’ve really enjoyed their visit. They will be leaving early tomorrow morning. I’ve been three times to Iran but that was many years ago and I guess it’s all changed now. While I was there last time I flew down to Abadan in the south, on the Gulf, and there I had the most delicious oranges I’ve tasted in my life. My next stop after Abadan was Bern in Switzerland so I took a big bag of oranges with me and Swiss Customs never stopped me luckily. My transit stops on that journey were Athens and Zurich and minutes after I had left Athens Airport there was a terrorist attack in the transit lounge area. Five passengers were killed and sixty were wounded. I felt totally shocked when I learned of this attack after landing in Zurich. I could have been killed on that day.

I have some free time finally. Life has been far too busy for comfort recently and sometimes I wonder how I keep going. I have visitors here right now so I have too many things to do. This morning I have to go down to the supermarket. I hate supermarkets, shopping malls, checkouts and shopping in general. Sometimes I’m tempted to just get everything from a small shop nearby but there’s not much choice and the prices are really high.

I’m trying not to look at the monitor too much because it hurts my eyes but this morning I decided to write a Ten Thought blog so that my friends can read all the things which are currently filling my mind. I was thinking about all these things before getting up and while sitting at my computer desk.

1 Next time you are flying to (or over) the UK, just think that the air traffic controllers there are warning that there are so many flights now that the skies are becoming dangerous, especially over southern England. Yesterday the number of flights hit an all time record at 8,800 for the day. I hate flying.

2 I was thinking of Philippa and Joe in Bournemouth and hoping that Joe is going to make a full recovery soon.

3 How can I effectively get blood stains out of 100% white cotton ? Hot washing with detergent and bleach only partially does the job.

4 I have a new laptop. It’s the first time I have used an American machine. Hewlett Packard. I’m enjoying using it except that the keyboard is in Portuguese so I have to discover and remember where some keys are. It’s a slight irritation but I will be able to manage. A major irritation is that three times so far I have accidentally clipped the wrong key(s) and documents have disappeared in front of my eyes. I must be very careful and back up important documents.

5 I saw the spectacular car chase in Nevada on the news and I remembered the two ‘friends’ , K & J, from Carson City who were enraged and deleted me for unknown reasons but most likely because my political views were different from theirs. That was years ago. I have learned never ever to discuss politics with Americans because in the USA, friends become enemies over politics. It is totally different to the UK where members of the same family can have totally different political views and it’s no problem at all.

6 Yesterday I had to call a plumber because the shower/bath tap has gone on the blink. The plumber is on holiday until next Wednesday and he’s the only one I know. I’m just thankful that it’s not an emergency. A window shutter in the sitting room has locked in the down position so we are in semi darkness there right now. A hand shower unit has also come loose so that’s three things all at the same time.

7 Grandmother is in Kathmandu at the moment, for medical treatment, and no doubt is seriously missing her village home. She and Flocky (my German Shepherd) are very wary of each other and just about tolerate each other. Yesterday I heard that Flocky had jumped on top of Grandmother who was relaxing on her bed. Poor Grandmother must have been terrified.

8 Today I have to do some cooking. It’s one of my dreads. I hate cooking or anything in the kitchen really. I will make enough food to last three or four days and keep it in the refrigerator so that I won’t have to cook again for some days. Who needs a job?

9 I’m getting old. I hate getting old. I don’t have nearly as much energy as I used to. When I was last in Bournemouth, I was a bit run down and Philippa gave me a bottle of Metatone Tonic. I’d never heard of it before and took it for several days and it seemed to do the trick. I picked up really well with it. When I go to Bournemouth I will buy a supply and bring it back to Lisbon with me. I have several items to buy, things which I cannot get here in Lisbon….. Mitchum Men’s deodorant which doesn’t irritate my skin, Jordan Norwegian toothbrushes which clean really well and seem to last forever, and now a few bottles of Metatone.

10. I love to see the view from our kitchen windows, looking over the estuary. I must look dozens of times every day. I never get tired of this unusual view. I can also see this view from the computer desk in my bedroom.